Martin has learned to live with back pain

Posted: Tuesday, September 28, 1999

DOVER, Del. (AP) - Mark Martin might have had reason to question the progress of his racing program this year, but he didn't.

He should have no reason to question his manhood, but he is. A serious back injury has prevented him from doing many of the things he enjoys, but he'll have that taken care in November, the day after the Winston Cup season ends.

Until then, he'll live with pain, but he's been pretty good at that. The latest example came Sunday, when he broke a seven-month drought by winning the MBNA Gold 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway.

"I'm feeling no pain right now," Martin said with a laugh before getting serious. "My back is just like it was last year, just basically intolerable, but we're living with it.

"I know what I can and can't do. For me, I feel like it's taken part of my manhood away because I can't grab up a piece of furniture and move it if I want to, or I can't get on the floor and wrestle with my son."

On Sunday, he wrestled with 42 other cars and came out on top. That's the way it was supposed to be this year, when Martin hoped to have another season to approach his career-best 1998 showing of seven victories.

But the win was just his second of the year. Still, Martin's performance has not fallen off dramatically. He's second in the series standings.

That in itself is an accomplishment, because emotional scars also have been left from the deaths of his father, an uncle and a close friend in the last 13 months. But he says his team has helped keep him headed in the right direction.

"They've kept their chin up," he said. "They haven't acted one bit different than they did last year when we were winning a race every few weeks, so this was good."

On a day when so many drivers complained about tires, Martin used them to his advantage. His knowledge of how to set up his Ford for the high-banked oval was the key.

"My tires were spectacular," he said. "We have had to put a conservative setup under our car. As far as making tires last, as far as gripping and being competitive on speed throughout a run, I am typically good at that."

That was the difference between Martin and rookie Tony Stewart, who finished second despite his problems with rubber on his Pontiac. But Stewart couldn't be blamed for it.

Stewart dominated early in the race, but got a bad set of tires and fell three laps behind. He was able to catch up because he didn't stop when the other leaders went in for gas and tires under green conditions.

Still, Stewart was upset.

"The tires were terrible," he said. "The thing wanted to keep crashing. We didn't know what changes to make because we were so inconsistent."

Martin knows the feeling.

"I think as Tony hangs around this thing for a while, he'll have that again," Martin said. "Some days that just happens. It's happened to me probably 30 times, but I've been around for a dozen years."

It was the 31st career victory for Martin, but he didn't make much progress in his bid to catch third-place finisher Dale Jarrett in the points race. Jarrett leads Martin by 257 points.